New York, California, Texas and Oregon are all said to be competing to become home to a major semiconductor manufacturer said to have ties with Apple and production of chips for devices like the iPhone and iPad.

Texas Instruments, one of the largest ARM licensees designing chips for smartphones and other mobile devices, is opting out of mobile chips to focus on embedded platforms, even as Apple's A-series chip business grows and hires away TI staff.

While Apple hasn't revealed much technical detail of the specifications behind iPhone 5 and its components, its new A6 processor is reportedly using next generation ARM Cortex A15 cores, making it the first to market with the technology.

The flurry of last-minute leaks continues, as a new picture claims to show the logic board from Apple's iPhone 5, complete with a 4G LTE modem chip and a new A6 processor. Separately, a series of pictures appear to show the final design of the iPhone 5.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is expected to begin ramping up manufacturing of its 28-nanometer ARM processors at a much faster rate, but whether Apple will begin using chips with the smaller process remains to be seen.

While Apple's much-anticipated foray into the connected television segment is unlikely to materialize until 2013, moves by the company in recent weeks point to an intermediate refresh of the existing Apple TV product to coincide with the release of new iPad models early next month.

A new report offers a picture claimed to be the front glass panel for Apple's next iPad, and also claims the third-generation device will feature Siri voice control, a dual-core "A5X" processor, and a 1080p camera with image stabilization.